Weekly Update for March 20th-24th

​Hi Families,
Spring is here! Recess has been quite delightful this week with the milder temperatures. We had a good week. The Fairy Tale Players performance was a hit (I heard). The substitute on Wednesday did well. Students continue to impress me with their collective good behavior and academic perseverance.

Report cards were emailed to you this week. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out. Also, packets of assessments and classwork went home on Friday for your review.

Keep logging those reading minutes for the Read-a-thon! We logged a number of sessions this week during in-class reading.

​Important Upcoming Dates:

• Wednesday, April 12th: All School Assembly

Community Building
We’ve had a few giggles this week with some sassy personalities expressing themselves in funny ways. Thankfully, things stay respectful! 

Literacy 
We wrapped up our study of Fairy Tales this week. Highlights:

• Read aloud some adaptations of Cinderella, including “Adelita: A Mexican Cinderella Story,” and “The Gift of the Crocodile: A Cinderella Story;”
• Compared and contrasted fairy tale adaptations of Cinderella;
• Read aloud some “twisted fairy tales,” including a funny Cinderella story from the point of view of the stepmother, and a funny extension of Rumpelstiltskin;

Writing
We continued writing within our study of fairy tales. Highlights:

• Expanded simple sentences about fairy tales using the sentence expansion technique;
• Learned about appositives, which are words or phrases that are used before or after other nouns or pronouns to further describe them;
• Used appositives in sentences about fairy tale characters;
• Practiced writing with phrases, as well as drafting short narratives and informational texts.

Phonics
We wrapped up Unit 9 on r-controlled syllables and took our Unit 9 Phonics test. Other highlights:

• Practiced reading and spelling words that have the sound /er/;
• Learned new trick words: brother, mother, and father;
• Played a game using our magnet tile letter boards to improve our word attack skills.

For at-home Phonics information and practice:

• Next: Fundations Home Support Packet for Unit 10
• Review: Fundations Home Support Packet for Unit 9

Math
We are working our way through Unit 5 on Numbers to 1,000. Highlights:

• Represented 3-digit numbers in different ways; created posters showing our understanding;
• Used skip-counting by ones, tens, and hundreds to locate numbers up to 1,000 on a number line;
• Compared 3-digit numbers using the position of numbers on a number line.

For at-home Math information and practice:

• Next:  Illustrative Math Family Support Materials for Unit 5
• Review: Illustrative Math Family Support Materials for Unit 4

Social Studies
Not much happened in Social Studies this week, except that I assigned students a country to research based on their preferences. I was planning on beginning research on laptops, but the technology is too slow and cumbersome. I’m hoping to access the ipads in the library next week for students to begin their country research.

​​Thank you for taking the time to read the entire update! Please reach out with any questions, or to connect to discuss your child’s progress. Have a great weekend!

Below, students working on their math posters, sharing their writing, and working hard taking their phonics test.

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